Cabrera received 23 of the 30 first-place ballots in voting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Trout received five first-place votes.

Last year, Cabrera had 22 first-place votes to Trout's six and a 362-281 advantage in points (the number of votes increased this year to 30 – two per AL city – with the Houston Astros moving from the National League).

"It was more special," Cabrera said of the second MVP. "I put up better numbers with fewer games. This year was tough with the injuries."

Cabrera said he was hampered most of the last two months of the season with groin, back and hip problems. He had surgery for the groin issues after the Tigers lost the American League Championship Series to Boston.

"I never thought I was going to win," Cabrera said. "The last two months were tough. I said, 'OK, let's play through it and see if we can get to the playoffs.' "

Cabrera becomes the first back-to-back winner in the AL since Frank Thomas in 1993-94. The most recent consecutive winner in either league was St. Louis' Albert Pujols in 2008-09.

Cabrera did have a better offensive season than a year ago – his batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage all were higher and he led the AL in all three categories for the second consecutive season.

He only hit one home run in his final 25 games yet still matched his 2012 home run total of 44, but finished second to Baltimore's Chris Davis (53) this time. Cabrera's 137 RBI were two short of his 2012 total and one behind Davis's league-leading 138 this year.

Davis finished third.

But the ongoing Cabrera-Trout duel goes beyond their performances and into the often clashing views of measuring performance by traditional statistics vs. via sabermetrics. And the bottom line in the results just might be how voters define the award.

For the second year in a row, Trout led Cabrera in Wins Above Replacement, the sabermetric formula designed to include all aspects of the game, including defense and baserunning. Trout's edge over Cabrera was 9.2-7.2 And Trout even led just the offensive portion of WAR, 10.0-9.0 over Cabrera.

Trout led the AL in walks and runs and was third in batting, second in on-base and fourth in slugging.

Even Cabrera lauded Trout.

"He's the best player in the league," Cabrera said. "He's got everything."

But, as it was in 2012, Cabrera's Tigers won the Central Division while Trout's Angels were never a factor in the AL West race, the added element that often blurs the lines between best player and "most valuable."

Included in the instructions to voters is, "There is no clear-cut definition of what Most Valuable means. It is up to the individual voter to decide who was the Most Valuable Player in each league to his team."

The questions aren't likely to go away any time soon, but at least Cabrera will have a couple of trophies to stare at if he contemplates the issue.

GALLERY: CABRERA WINS AL MVP

Miguel Cabrera received 25 of the 30 first-place votes to become the first back-to-back AL MVP winner since Frank Thomas in 1993-94. (Photo: Rick Osentoski, USA TODAY Sports)

Last year, Cabrera had 22 first-place votes to Trout’s
six and a 362-281 advantage in points (the number of votes increased this year
to 30 – two per AL city – with the Houston Astros moving from the National
League). (Photo: Tim Fuller, USA TODAY Sports)

Cabrera
actually had a better offensive season than a year ago – his batting average,
on-base percentage and slugging percentage all were higher and he led the AL in
all three categories for the second consecutive season. (Photo: Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports)